U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,870, Kobler, describes an apparatus in which elements to open folded products are introduced between the fold. A transport device has separating elements which can receive the folded products, the separating elements being introduced into spread sheet elements or halves of the folded products. When the folded products are to be released, the spreading or separating elements are again removed.
The referenced patent describes an arrangement in which the folded products have separating elements introduced therein, which are wider than the folded products themselves. The arrangement permits the folded products to be spread out in a linear path, to be received by a transport apparatus, and subsequently assembled, for example in a storage roll. The carriers which form the separating elements are deformed in this arrangement.